Convergent Capital Partners, Liberty Group partner on Aloft project

Clearwater-based Liberty Group and Tampa's Convergent Capital Partners have announced plans to renovate a former Mercantile Bank office building, at 100 W. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown Tampa, into the Aloft in Tampa.

The hotel project came about because of a friendship between Santosh Govindaraju, CEO of Convergent Capital Partners, and Punit Shah, president and chief operating officer of the Liberty Group.

Govindaraju's Convergent Capital Partners purchased the 67,465-square-foot office in May for $2.2 million, a sharp decline from the $9 million it sold for in mid-2006.

The two were talking and from that discussion came the idea of a joint venture converting the 53-year-old waterfront office building into a new hotel.

Shah says what his group brought to the venture was a strong background in hotel operations and development and Convergent Capital Partners brought the financial expertise and even more importantly the property.

“Since we already own the building we can get moving on this full speed ahead,” Shah says. “We're shooting for an April 1 groundbreaking, just 90 days from now.”

Since the $15 milion project is just a renovation of the building and following with the existing land use, the developers can avoid the time and cost of a new site plan and move straight to applying for building permits.

The partners have hired Tampa-based Wichman Construction to handle the preconstruction work.

The new 130-unit hotel, under the Starwood Hotels brand, is scheduled to open in early 2014. The project will also create a w xyz bar and re:mix lounge, waterfront pool, fitness center and 4,000-square-foot rooftop meeting area.

It will be the fifth Aloft in Florida, following the opening of Aloft Miami-Brickell in late 2013.